New Hampshire

There’s something so juicy about discovering that Boston’s biggest band, the almighty Aerosmith, is actually from New Hampshire. (The hair! The outfits! Now it all makes sense!) Even though they’re kind of a historic trainwreck now, we’re happy to tip our hats (cows, whichever) to the north. More than any other band from Sunapee who took it to the other side, Aerosmith have expanded upon the very edict of the state: live free, die, or just keep performing songs that make it harder and harder to give you credit for the ever-vanishing triumphs of your past. | When we became aware that the swaggering bluesy bluster of Jon Spencer came from the same New Hampshire dirt as did Ronnie James Dio (the very man to thank for popularizing heavy metal’s devil-horns hand gesture), we almost passed out from double-gasping. While we collect ourselves, do us the solid of calling this one yourselves by voting above. | And it may be a stretch to put them here (since they technically came together in Austin), but the Meriden high-school pals of Okkervil River continue to make some of the prettiest, most respectable indie-folk in all the land. (Probably would have been a different story if basement-blasting Bravo Fucking Bravo hadn’t split up.)